There's no denying that DmC: Devil May Cry's story is hot garbage, with unappealing characters and story beats that never fail to disgust me (everything involving Lilith just makes me feel unclean), but I honestly find the base game to be enjoyable to replay through on occasion. The combat simplifies Devil May Cry's hack-and-slash gameplay while spicing it up by putting some extra emphasis on mobility and aerial combat, the locales are incredibly distinctive without being confusing to navigate, and while I don't regularly listen to Combichrist I will admit that their songs spice things up excellently.
Vergil's Downfall lives up to its name - it is a downfall. All the positives I just listed off do NOT carry over from the base game into this DLC.
Let's start with Vergil himself. Compared to the interesting addition to DMC3 and the most entertainingly overpowered thing ever in DMC4 (EDIT: and the digital embodiment of sheer awesomeness in DMC5), this version of the character's playstyle feels bland and limp. His skillset is much more limited than Dante's, and all of his attacks feel sluggish and awful to use. I believe that most of this can be attributed to his worse aerial performance; though he can grapple up to enemies just like Dante, and even TELEPORTS in the process, he has fewer midair launchers and more diving attacks, which restricts him more to grounded combat... in a game where strong aerial combat is not only the highlight, but the norm. I've found that bottomless pits are an even greater threat than some enemies when playing as Vergil.
Additionally, while it retains the same bizarre geography as the original, Vergil's Downfall's level design is... worse. It can be hard to keep track of what direction you're going in, it feels like there are dead ends everywhere you go, and every area just blends together. It doesn't help that the game abandons the corrupted urban environments of the base game, instead just going for pieces of rubble floating in an empty void.
The music is the same way. While the base game utilized Combichrist tracks and electronic music to go an extra step in making everything feel energetic and frenetic, Vergil's Downfall instead opts for some of the most forgettable pieces of orchestral music I've ever heard in a video game. Combined with the stale combat system, it makes things boring fast. During my first playthrough, I switched off the music midway through and just put on my own music in the background. It only helped to alleviate a little bit of the sourness I felt while playing, unfortunately...
Oh, also, the story and characters are still bad. But that went without saying, didn't it? I mean, it's DmC, for pete's sake.
1/10. Easily the worst playable character in any Devil May Cry game ever. Even 2.
Vergil's Downfall lives up to its name - it is a downfall. All the positives I just listed off do NOT carry over from the base game into this DLC.
Let's start with Vergil himself. Compared to the interesting addition to DMC3 and the most entertainingly overpowered thing ever in DMC4 (EDIT: and the digital embodiment of sheer awesomeness in DMC5), this version of the character's playstyle feels bland and limp. His skillset is much more limited than Dante's, and all of his attacks feel sluggish and awful to use. I believe that most of this can be attributed to his worse aerial performance; though he can grapple up to enemies just like Dante, and even TELEPORTS in the process, he has fewer midair launchers and more diving attacks, which restricts him more to grounded combat... in a game where strong aerial combat is not only the highlight, but the norm. I've found that bottomless pits are an even greater threat than some enemies when playing as Vergil.
Additionally, while it retains the same bizarre geography as the original, Vergil's Downfall's level design is... worse. It can be hard to keep track of what direction you're going in, it feels like there are dead ends everywhere you go, and every area just blends together. It doesn't help that the game abandons the corrupted urban environments of the base game, instead just going for pieces of rubble floating in an empty void.
The music is the same way. While the base game utilized Combichrist tracks and electronic music to go an extra step in making everything feel energetic and frenetic, Vergil's Downfall instead opts for some of the most forgettable pieces of orchestral music I've ever heard in a video game. Combined with the stale combat system, it makes things boring fast. During my first playthrough, I switched off the music midway through and just put on my own music in the background. It only helped to alleviate a little bit of the sourness I felt while playing, unfortunately...
Oh, also, the story and characters are still bad. But that went without saying, didn't it? I mean, it's DmC, for pete's sake.
1/10. Easily the worst playable character in any Devil May Cry game ever. Even 2.